Our Fair Payout Model

Streaming has become the leading digital music channel across the industry. It is projected that by 2030, streaming will make up 70% of global music revenue. So far, classical music has missed out on the streaming revolution and only shares 10% of the revenue pie. Primephonic is working to give classical music a larger representation of that revenue share. It is therefore, paramount, that we fix the streaming challenge for classical music in the industry. We are reinventing the classical music experience, to reignite a global passion for the genre.

Primephonic is changing the way artists get paid, in order to reinvigorate the classical music industry.

"We want to pay classical music artists more fairly to ensure their creative freedom."

Streaming allows artists to generate income from digital music consumption. But how do we determine how much royalty to pay out to which artist?

Primephonic vs. Spotify & Apple Music

Mainstream streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music pay out artists based on the number of times their track is streamed. The more counts an artist's music is streamed, the larger the share of total royalties they receive. This model works well for popular music genres, but we believe is not right for classical music.

Classical Music is Different

Classical works can range in length from an average of 3 minutes to many hours. On existing streaming services there are works that are 3 minutes long, and works that are 60 minutes long. Both get the same pay out. However, the cost to record the 3-minute work and the cost to record the 60-minute work are fundamentally different. As a result, artists are pushed by the pay-out models of existing streaming services to focus on shorter works. Another unfair consequence of current pay-out models is that, compared to popular music genres, classical music doesn't get its fair share of revenue because the average classical work is much longer than the average pop song. Consequently, there is less and less funding available for talent development and artistic experiments.

The Pay-Per-Second Model

To address both issues, Primephonic developed a pay-per-second model. The longer a work is streamed, the more money that work receives. In this way we better preserve the history and legacy of classical music so that artists follow their artistic vision, recording the great works of our time, and are not pushed to sacrifice it for commercial interests.